Several months ago I tipped North Wales Crusaders for automatic promotion and from today's evidence my opinion has not changed. Crusader are a championship side with very good facilities and a very good commercial approach.

The first 20 mins was a close battle with Oldham crashing over to claim the first points but the difference today was that the Crusaders defensive display was awesome. Oldham never troubled the North Wales line and when they did have the foresight to visit to the Crusader's try line they were met by a strong defensive wall of proud welsh red shirts.

Oldham were lackluster, flat and defensively very poor. Oldham's right side combination didn't work with the right centre having a game to forget. we allowed the majority of the Crusaders eight try's to sail passed an unopposed Oldham defense. With a minute to go before the half, Oldham's right centre throw a pass out of the tackle in his own 20 and straight in to the arms of the opposition who in turn scored on the hooter to go in 18 - 8 up.

The first ten minutes of the second half killed the game for Oldham, shocking defense from Oldham saw us down 36 - 8 within ten minutes of the second half.

It is important to remained balanced but I am struggling to find positives from today's poor display. After an off season of "Propaganda" we go and burst the bubble with a aberrant performance like that, and of course you could say it is a new team playing its first competitive match together and the Crusaders have retained the majority of last season squad but with the bookies tipping both teams for a strong season, there was no evidence of that at all from Oldham.

I know a lot of people made the journey to watch the opening match and we all left, disappointed and with a feeling of "Here Go Again" it is essential not to jump to conclusions after 80 minutes of rugby but the only team gaining automatic promotion this season is North Wales Crusaders!!!!

I will wait for the coaches comments but if official's, players and coaches read this please note how disappointed the fans feel after that performance. . . . it was an embarrassment. . . . . . . . . . . . .

If we are going to be told to play DR players with a few days notice in front of our signings on a one year contract then there is going to be a lot of unsettled players in the squad. Players need to gel together to create a settled side that work together the DR system does anything but that.

Today gave us the answer. DR may be here to stay but I fail to see how the 4 players today improved the team from the game at Rochdale. I would rather Lepori at full back than on the wing just to accomodate someone who needs game time from Salford. And did any of the 4 offer more than Neil Roden would have done?

First 20 and last 20 it was even stevens.Either side of half time we were poor, lacking composure, direction and cohesion.Didn't see much to impress from the Salford reserves. 27 Full back doesn't like taking the ball up and 28 Prop is too small for me and was pushed back a number of times and had little go forward. Can't say I noticed the other two.

League not started yet so time to try these things.Naylor and Spencer will learn from this i'm sure.

Is anyone seriously surprised?
The club appoints a second rate coach who was at best an average player from the worst club in sport league.
We then allow them to send us garbage from their under 20's who are thrown straight into the team!
It's a disaster and will only get worse!

Today gave us the answer. DR may be here to stay but I fail to see how the 4 players today improved the team from the game at Rochdale. I would rather Lepori at full back than on the wing just to accomodate someone who needs game time from Salford. And did any of the 4 offer more than Neil Roden would have done?

Not a good day.

What four players lost their places to play four dummies from Salford?

I thought this season I would have had respect for Naylor? there as been a lot of talk about him being his own man but obviousley he is being dictated to by Salford regarding who plays.

Having been to both pre season friendlies and been enthusiastic about the coming season this result is a disaster, how to destroy a team in one easy lesson?

Dual reg will never work,

I have been an Oldham fan since I was 6 years old going with my Grandad in 1952. and never felt so sad about the future of rugby league in general.

I also tipped Crusaders to win league, made some great signings. Also they have not tied themselves to a Super League club. Obviously no unrest in their camp and this may prove to be the deciding factor

Gutted at the result but thought we would lose as soon as I saw the team with the inclusion of the 4 DR players . We were told that the club would be looking to take players on season long loans rather than have DR players coming and going disrupting match prep and team morale so I hope that this was not a sign of things to come but a case of Scott using this match to have a look at the DR players to assess which , if any , are worth persevering with for the league season .

We will find out soon enough if this was his reasoning but I still feel this was a mistake as this match was always going to be tough and not the time to experiment .This performance and result has thrown away all the optimism and momentum we had built up before this match , has given a massive boost to Crusaders , has effectively ruined the chance of an appearance in the Rosebowl final and been a huge letdown for the loyal fans who made the trip .

Maybe I was a bit too optimistic about our prospects for the season on the back of a couple of pre season friendlies but by the same logic there is no point in throwing in the towel after one defeat .Now is the time to regroup , get our best team out on the pitch for another tough match next week and hopefully get the win to get us back on track and ready for the league campaign . It doesn't make things right but our main priority before today was the league campaign and that has not changed .

We spoke to Naylor on Saturday morning after training and he told us there were 3 going into the squad. I was that shocked at our second half performance yesterday that I didn't realise we had the four in. This makes it more shocking to the disruption to the squad, and how it's going to affect morale on the players being left out. It certainly didn't go down well with the supporters that went yesterday. It's shocking to see that we had just short of 50pts stuck up us. I fear we may well lose to the Hornets unless we get the likes of Joy, Neild Bloomfield and Cookson back in for Sunday.

Also what else left a bitter taste in the mouths of the travelling Oldham supporters yesterday, was the entry fee of £14,for what was basically a second rate cup comp. Put that in comparison with Batley V Fax last thurs night at £15, NWC seems a bit of a rip off.

I didn't go to the match so can only comment on what is being said on this thread. The first thing I would say is that I can't understand for the life of me why we would change a winning team. Forgeting for the moment that the players were DR you wouldn't put 4 players that had opnly arrived at the club on the Thursday into a team that had won the last two games. You might put one or two on the bench if you had injuries from the two previous games but I find it hard to think why you would put all four in straight away. The other thing to add would be that the changes meant 3 of the 5 back positions were different players to the week before. Having said that, gaining promotion is the goal, and maybe Scott is using the Rail Cup as an opportunity to experiment with the players.

Once again, gaining promotion is the ultimate goal of the season and, to put this into perspective, we have been beaten by the favourites to win our league, not by some also rans as has happened in the past.

Tony Mac

The only reason some people get lost in thought is because it's unfamiliar territory